Our Mission is to keep our audience with an interrupted stream of financial information from serious sources, with the objective to provide the tools and the sufficient knowledge about investments in the financial markets.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2018-134
Washington D.C., July 17, 2018 —
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced
that New York-based broker-dealer BGC Financial has agreed to pay a
$1.25 million penalty to settle charges that it failed to preserve audio
files sought by the SEC and inaccurately recorded travel,
entertainment, and other expenses.
The SEC’s order finds that after receiving document requests in 2014
from the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, BGC deleted audio files for the
recorded telephone lines of eight brokers that were responsive to the
document requests. According to the order, the department responsible
for maintaining voice recordings was unaware of the SEC’s request and
deleted the files in keeping with the firm’s policy of not maintaining
them after one year.
The SEC order also finds that BGC failed to maintain books and records
that accurately recorded compensation, travel, entertainment, and gifts.
BGC provided a high performing broker with season tickets for a New
York-area sports team that cost more than $600,000 per year, and failed
to record the payments for the tickets as compensation in its general
ledger. BGC also reimbursed this same broker for more than $100,000 of
expenses associated with an international trip for his birthday and
other foreign travel that lacked a sufficiently documented business
purpose. BGC inaccurately recorded these items in its books and records
as selling and promotion. BGC also reimbursed a different broker for
thousands of dollars of personal expenses spent on his birthday party,
his bachelor party, and two separate trips to Las Vegas for his friends’
bachelor parties.
“The federal securities laws require broker-dealers to maintain accurate
books and records and promptly provide records requested by SEC staff,”
said Marc P. Berger, Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office.
“The failure to preserve and produce responsive documents undermines
the Commission’s ability to provide effective oversight of registrants
and to carry out its mission to protect investors.”
The SEC order finds that BGC violated books and records provisions of
the federal securities laws and related SEC rules. Without admitting or
denying the SEC’s findings, BGC agreed to a cease-and-desist order, a
censure, and a $1.25 million penalty.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Shannon Keyes, Christopher
Dunnigan, Kenneth Gottlieb, and Charles D. Riely of the New York
Regional Office and supervised by Sanjay Wadhwa.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

FRAUDE DE LOS BANCOS-PERÚ

If you are are investigating a fraud case and need to contact MasterCard to assist with the investigation. Who can we speak with?

A: Please send an email to our Law Enforcement Support Center at Law_Enforcement_Support@mastercard.com, or call 1-866-308-7272 (U.S. & Canada) or 1-636-722-4046 (International). We will respond to your inquiry within 24-48 hours.